Agroforestry is a land-use system that integrates agriculture, trees, people, and animals in the same space, resulting in improved soil quality, higher yields, and improved standards of living. Agroforestry has been practiced in varying forms for thousands of years, and as such it works well with the low-input land management systems that are common in the developing world.

As world population increases, the need for more productive and sustainable use of the land becomes more urgent. According to the United Nations, more than 7 billion people populated the Earth in 2011 and this number is expected to go up to 9.3 billion by the mid-century. To meet the demand for food by 2050, production will have to increase by over 60%. These figures, coupled with current problems borne out of past and existing non-sustainable land use practices, provide the case for changing the way we manage lands and our production of agricultural and tree goods.

One-third of our planet is covered with forests, and about 1 billion people depend on forest resources for their lives and livelihoods. Forests are a nutritional bounty and provide essential services to agriculture. Forests also play a vital role in slowing the pace of climate change through carbon storage and in mitigating the effects of severe weather events.

Large chunks of forest land are being cleared to make way for agriculture or mining, or degraded by unsustainable or illegal logging and other poor land-use practices.

Delight Uganda responds to the urgent need for a strong and sustained research focus on forest management and governance, given the crucial role of forests in confronting some of the most important challenges of our time: climate change, poverty, and food insecurity. We seek to enhance the management and use of forests, agroforestry and tree genetic resources across the landscape.